An applicant, Hadiza Usman, has filed contempt proceedings before the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to commit the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, to prison over alleged disobedience of a subsisting judgment of the court.
The application, filed in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/2698/2025, was brought against the EFCC Chairman as contemnor in a fundamental rights matter between Hadiza Usman as applicant and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Dr. Halima Alfa as respondents.
In the motion on notice dated July 15, 2026, Usman is asking the court to commit Olukoyede to prison and detain him until he obeys the orders made by the Federal High Court on April 20, 2026, restraining the EFCC from interfering with her personal liberty over what the court had held to be a civil matter.
She is also asking that the EFCC Chairman be compelled to tender a public apology to her in compliance with the earlier judgment.
The application was brought pursuant to Order 35 Rule 1(2)(b) and Rule 2 of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules, 2019, as well as the inherent jurisdiction of the court under Section 6(6)(a) of the 1999 Constitution.
According to the court processes, Usman, a fashion designer and businesswoman dealing in jewellery, high-quality clothing, import and export, had earlier sued the EFCC and Dr. Halima Alfa for alleged violation of her fundamental rights.
In the judgment delivered on April 20, 2026, Justice Peter O. Lifu held that the dispute between Usman and Dr. Alfa arose from private business transactions involving the purchase of gold, wristwatches, clothes and money lending, and did not disclose any economic or financial crime, fraud or criminality requiring EFCC intervention.
The court held that the invasion of Usman’s private residence and the removal of her jewellery, personal effects, landed property documents and other items over alleged indebtedness were illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional.
Justice Lifu also held that her arrest and detention by the EFCC on November 6 and 7, 2025, at the instance of Dr. Alfa, and the decision to subject her to bail at the EFCC headquarters in Jabi, Abuja, violated her fundamental rights under the Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The court consequently ordered the EFCC to immediately release to Usman all items, personal effects and documents removed or confiscated from her residence during the search of November 6, 2025.
It also restrained the EFCC, Dr. Alfa, their agents, employees, servants or privies from further interfering with Usman’s personal liberty on the basis of the same facts and circumstances.
The court further ordered the EFCC to tender a public apology to Usman, while Dr. Alfa was ordered to pay her ₦50 million as damages for wrongfully setting the law in motion, leading to the violation of her rights.
However, in the contempt application now before the court, Usman alleged that despite the subsisting judgment, the EFCC failed to obey the orders of the Federal High Court.
She alleged that the EFCC did not return all her seized property as directed and did not tender the public apology ordered by the court.
Usman further alleged that, despite the order restraining the EFCC from interfering with her personal liberty over the same civil dispute, she was arrested and detained again by the Commission on May 25, 2026, and held until about 7 p.m. on May 26, 2026, after meeting bail conditions.
She claimed that during the fresh arrest, the EFCC seized her phone after the international passport earlier released to her was checked, describing the action as a flagrant disobedience of the court’s judgment and a violation of Section 287(3) of the 1999 Constitution, which requires authorities and persons to obey decisions of the Federal High Court.
The applicant also alleged that the EFCC, notwithstanding the court’s finding that the case was civil in nature, filed and pursued a criminal charge against her before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Maitama, Abuja.
According to the motion, the charge, marked CR/147/2026, is before Justice S.U. Bature of the FCT High Court.
Usman alleged that the charge is based on the same facts and transaction which the Federal High Court had already declared to be civil-related and not constituting economic or financial crime, fraud or criminality.
She further alleged that she was arraigned on the charge on June 2, 2026, and that the matter was subsequently adjourned to September 23, 2026, despite the subsisting Federal High Court judgment.
